Inter- Faiths Dialogue

The Man > Being

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W ithin the Essence of Mind all things are intrinsically pure, like the azure of the sky and the radiance of the sun and the moon which, when obscured by passing clouds, may appear as if their brightness had been dimmed; but as soon as the clouds are blown away, brightness reappears and all objects are fully illuminated. Learned Audience, our evil habits may be likened unto the clouds; while Sagacity and Wisdom are like the sun and the moon respectively. When we attach ourselves to outer objects, our Essence of Mind is clouded by wanton thoughts which prevent our Sagacity and Wisdom from sending forth their light.

temple_buddhist

quote 4271 | Hui Neng
Sutra of Hui Neng 6

T he mind is said to be twofold:
The pure and also the impure;
Impure--by union with desire;
Pure--from desire completely free.

temple_hindu

quote 4261 | The Upanishads
Maitri Upanishad 6.34

T s'ai-wu said, "I have heard the names kuei and shen, but I do not know what they mean." The Master said, "The [intelligent] spirit is of the shen nature, and shows that in fullest measure; the animal soul is of the kuei nature, and shows that in fullest measure. It is the union of kuei and shen that forms the highest exhibition of doctrine.

"All the living must die, and dying, return to the ground; this is what is called kuei. The bones and flesh molder below, and, hidden away, become the earth of the fields. But the spirit issues forth, and is displayed on high in a condition of glorious brightness. The vapors and odors which produce a feeling of sadness,[and arise from the decay of their substance], are the subtle essences of all things, and also a manifestation of the shen nature."

candle

quote 4226 | The Book of Ritual
Book of Ritual 21.2.1

T he body is the sheath of the soul.

synagogue

quote 4218 | The Talmud
Sanhedrin 108a

B y deep meditations, let him recognize the subtle nature of the supreme Soul (1), and it presence in all organisms, both the highest and the lowest.

temple_hindu

quote 3963 | The Law of Manu
VI, 65, Translation by G. Buhler in Sacred Books of the East, xxv (Oxford, 1886), pp. 204-10

(1) Brahman

T here is one identical Soul, every separate manifestation being that Soul complete. The differentiated souls issue from the Unity and strike out here and there, but are united at the Source much as light is a divided thing on earth, shining in this house and that, and yet remains one. One Soul [is] the source of all souls; It is at once divided and undivided. (1)

... Diversity within the ONE depends not upon spatial separation, but sheerly upon differentiation; all Being, despite this plurality, is a Unity still. (2)

... The souls are apart without partition; they are no more hedged off by boundaries than are the multiple items of knowledge in one mind. The one Soul so exists as to include all souls. (3)

candle

quote 3657 | Plotinus
(1) Enneads, 27:4:2-5; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 118 ; (2) Enneads, 22:6:4; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 184 ; (3) Enneads, 22:6:4; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 184

T he immortality of the soul is demonstrated by many proofs; but to see it as it really is-not as we now behold it, marred by communion with the body and other miseries-you must contemplate it with the eye of reason in its original purity; and then its beauty will be revealed. ... When a person starts on the discovery of the Absolute by the light of the reason only, without the assistance of the senses, and never desists until by pure intelligence he arrives at the perception of the absolute Good, he at last finds himself at the end of the intellectual world...

candle

quote 3639 | Plato
Republic, 611B-C and 532B ; Jowett

T he soul is neither from the East of the world of pure spirits, nor from the West of the world of material bodies. It is of three types: the one that incites to evil; the self-blaming one; and the recollected one.

The soul that incites to evil (an-nafs al-ammarah bi's-su') is that which inclines to physical nature and commands one to engage in sensual pleasures and carnal appetites. It draws the heart toward the lowest region and is the abode of iniquity and the source of blameworthy morals and evil deeds. It is the soul of the masses. It is tenebrous; and for it, the invocation is like a lamp lit in a dark house.

The self-blaming soul (an-nafs al-lawwamah) is that which is illuminated by the light of the heart to an extent commensurate with its degree of wakefulness from the slumber of forgetfulness. It is vigilant and begins by correcting its state, which wavers between the Divinity and creatures. Every time something bad issues forth from the self-blaming soul by virtue of its dark nature and character, the light of divine admonition suddenly comes upon it, and it starts blaming itself. The soul repents of its errors, asking God's pardon and returns to the door of the Forgiving, the Merciful…

… the self-blaming soul perseveres in invoking and turning to God in repentance until the power of the invocation triumphs over all those things and expels them. Then the soul approaches peacefulness and does not cease to gather furnishings for the house until the house is adorned with all kinds of praiseworthy things and is thereby made lustrous. The house is then suitable for the descent of the Sovereign Lord into it. When the Sovereign Lord descends into the soul and the Truth is revealed, the soul becomes recollected.

The recollected soul (an-nafs al-mutma'innah) is the one whose enlightenment is brought about by the light of the heart until it is stripped of blameworthy attributes and takes on praiseworthy virtues. Then it turns in the direction of the heart completely, following it in its ascent to the regions of the world of Holiness (`alam al-quds) far above the world of impurity, diligent in acts of obedience and tranquil in the presence of the "Exalter of ranks" until its Lord addresses it by His words: "But, ah! Thou soul at peace! Return unto thy Lord, content in His good pleasure! Enter thou among My servants! Enter thou My Garden!"

mosque

quote 3278 | Ibn' Ata' Allah
The Key To Salvation: A Sufi Manual of Invocation. Trans. Mary Ann Koury Danner. Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1996, pp. 52-53

E ach faculty of ours delights in that for which it was created: lust delights in accomplishing desire, anger in taking vengeance, the eye in seeing beautiful objects, and the ear in hearing harmonious sounds. The highest function of the soul is the perception of truth.

mosque

quote 2878 | Ghazzali
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.59

E xcept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

church

quote 2719 | Jesus Christ
John 3:5-8 (AV), taken from the 1611 King James Version of the Bible

W hat is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).

temple_hindu

quote 2700 | Ramana Maharshi
The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi (Tiruvannamailai, India: Sri Ramanasraman, 1979).

W hat is the nature of the mind?
What is called "mind" is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thought to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also.

temple_hindu

quote 2698 | Ramana Maharshi
The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi (Tiruvannamailai, India: Sri Ramanasraman, 1979).

B rahman is all, and the Self is Brahman.
This Self has four states of consciousness.

The first is called Vaishvanara, in which
One lives with all the senses turned outward,
Aware only of the external world.

Taijasa is the name of the second,
The dreaming state in which, with the senses
Turned inward, one enacts the impressions
Of past deeds and present desires.

The third state is called Prajna, of deep sleep,
In which one neither dreams nor desires.
There is no mind in Prajna, there is no
Separateness; but the sleeper is not
Conscious of this.
Let him become conscious
In Prajna and it will open the door
To the state of abiding joy.

Prajna, all-powerful and all-knowing,
Dwells in the hearts of all as the ruler.
Prajna is the source and end of all.

The fourth is the superconscious state called
Turiya, neither inward nor outward,
Beyond the senses and the intellect,
In which there is none other than the Lord.
He is the supreme goal of life.
He is Infinite peace and love. Realize him!

temple_hindu

quote 2657 | The Upanishads
Mandukya Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California

T he human being has two states of consciousness: one in this world, the other in the next. But there is a third state between them, not unlike the world of dreams, in which we are aware of both worlds, with their sorrows and joys. When a person dies, it is only the physical body that dies; that person lives on in a nonphysical body, which carries the impressions of his past life. It is these impressions that determine his next life. In this intermediate state he makes and dissolves impressions by the light of the Self.

temple_hindu

quote 2655 | The Upanishads
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaran, 1987; Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California

T he five sense-functions and their discriminating and thinking function have their risings and complete endings from moment to moment. They are born with discrimination as cause, with form and appearance and objectivity closely linked together as condition. The will-to-live is the mother, ignorance is the father. By setting up names and forms greed is multiplied and thus the mind goes on mutually conditioning and being conditioned. By becoming attached to names and forms, not realizing that they have no more basis than the activities of the mind itself, error rises, false-imagination as to pleasure and pain rises, and the way to emancipation is blocked. The lower system of sense-minds and the discriminating--mind do not really suffer pleasure and pain-they only imagine they do. Pleasure and pain are the deceptive reactions of mortal-mind as it grasps an imaginary objective world.

temple_buddhist

quote 2576 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch.IV, p.307, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

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